Chapter 3

Hermione fleetingly leaned in, leaving a kiss upon her lover's flushed cheek, before hurrying down to History of Magic. As the door to her office almost inaudibly fell shut, Minerva's fingertips slowly reached up to stroke the spot on her cheek which Hermione had kissed. She sighed, before realizing she most likely was acting like a teen and letting her hand fall beside her again. She immediately wiped the smile from her lips that she even hadn't noticed forming. She quietly shook her head and seriously straightened her robes, before walking over to her desk and sitting down upon the comfortable high chair.

Minerva McGonagall sighed again, before letting her elbows both rest onto the top of her desk. She fleetingly let her teal green eyes wander over the room and then quietly lowered her head in her hands. "I was gay, too," a loud female voice suddenly sounded. "No one ever had issues with it."

Minerva didn't have to look up to be aware of whom had spoken. She slowly raised her head just enough so that her words wouldn't be muffled by her hands as she replied. "I'm not gay, Dylis."

Dylis almost immediately raised her brow in question, which Minerva of course didn't notice. "Then what…?"

"I have no idea," Minerva sighed, even before the elder deceased Headmistress had gotten the chance to finish talking. What had really happened between Hermione and her, Minerva wondered. She sighed once more. She, Minerva McGonagall, wasn't gay… even though she wasn't really unaware of the rumors. She had ignored them quite easily for many years. As a teacher it wasn't really awkward pupils whispered about possible relationships between their teachers and such. It had lessened quite a lot in the last couple of decennia. Once upon a time she had been the youthful, thirty-somewhat Transfiguration teacher and had been whistled after a lot. Even though Minerva never had considered herself beautiful or anything remotely like that, there had been the occasional insane pupil drooling over their desk, and over the years some even announcing their love for her. She had turned down all with about the same words. She couldn't ever be involved with a pupil and not in the least just because of their position to one another and the difference in age. Minerva too knew just how teens could behave: easily falling in love and with someone else every month or even more often…

These were the very same reasons why her encounter with Hermione Granger of last night bothered her so much. Hermione Granger undoubtedly would have used all that intelligence of hers coming to this instead of just giving in to a fleeting feeling of lust or such. A piece of Minerva McGonagall had known Hermione wouldn't have left it with that one night before Christmas… after having said too much, as she herself had put it.

She sighed. It hadn't been easy to consider this as just another pupil driven by teenage hormones. Most of the time in her years at Hogwarts, Hermione had reminded the older Headmistress of herself at that age. Hermione Granger wasn't someone who would be considered as someone doing things impetuously and without over-thinking first. Hermione would have done more of her best to put it from her head if she herself hadn't been absolutely sure of its meaningfulness. Maybe it had been the aftermath of the war. She had had to go through a lot…

Minerva's head shook. The thoughts continually running through her head really were more than she could actually bear for the time being. She wasn't as focused onto her job as should anymore, ever since that night in her office. It just continued bothering her. And the fact that it did, bothered her even more as well.

She wasn't even gay. Why else had she been in love for well over fifty years then with that man she never had been able to get, Albus Dumbledore?

Even aside from their position and difference in age… hadn't it been too much, too fast, too soon? She couldn't describe the urge that had come over her feeling Hermione's touch setting her skin on fire like she had never felt before. This couldn't happen again either way. Even though Hermione was a few years older than most of the pupils that had announced their love to her once upon a time, Professor McGonagall couldn't see their situation as real. It must have been a one time thing, and nothing more than that. It must have been the aftermath of the war on both. Yet what she had felt when Hermione had…

"Minerva?"

"Albus…" Minerva whispered, slowly shaking her head. She couldn't bear listening to his voice now – not Albus'.

"Minerva," he whispered once again, waiting with patience until her head discontinued shaking. Even though she wasn't facing him, he knew that Minerva must be listening. The both of them had worked together decennia enough to be in tune to each other and not even death could change that. "Minerva, it isn't impossible to love both men and women. And having known you, for the time that I have, I could easily imagine the other worries you have. I cannot say much more than maybe you should bear in mind the type of person Hermione Granger is. I don't rightly believe she would do even anything remotely related to what happened if she wasn't at least entirely convinced it could be real."

Severus snorted. Minerva didn't pay any attention to that. She just began shaking her head again. She knew, but… "She's a pupil," Minerva uttered.

"She won't for much longer anymore," Dilys interrupted before anyone else had any chance to say something. Eagerness could be heard in her voice; audible for even those who had never known Dilys. "Minerva, I have seen the way her eyes go over you," she continued. "One cannot fake anything of that. Something like that must have taken years to…"

Dilys' speech came to an ending when suddenly Minerva began laughing. "Years…" she whispered, thinking about the half era her deep love for Albus had lasted.

Hermione's confession even though awkward had entirely come as a surprise, and Minerva thus couldn't rightly say how she felt about everything yet. Guilt immediately welled up into her. She questioned herself seriously: had she only used this pupil then, to satisfy her needs? A tear threatened to make its way down her cheek, but it didn't. Even though she was still a bit sore from the fucking of last night, she couldn't deny the most wonderful feeling spreading through her by just thinking about Hermione. Only one man had gotten her to feel that way before, even though he never had been hers; the very same one who would have been happier than anybody to think that there was a little more love.

Minerva swallowed. She really couldn't have anything like yesterday happen again, at least not until Hermione had left Hogwarts. That would leave both her and Hermione with a couple more months to ponder about their feelings. If Hermione actually still felt the same about her then, she would certainly come to her again.